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AB-940 Long-term health care facilities: notice.(2017-2018)



Current Version: 09/25/17 - Chaptered

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AB940:v94#DOCUMENT

Assembly Bill No. 940
CHAPTER 274

An act to add Section 1439.6 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to long-term health care facilities.

[ Approved by Governor  September 25, 2017. Filed with Secretary of State  September 25, 2017. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 940, Weber. Long-term health care facilities: notice.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of long-term health care facilities by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law authorizes the department to issue citations for violations of those provisions that are classified according to the nature of the violation. Existing law authorizes a licensee to contest a citation or proposed assessment of a civil penalty under specified provisions.
This bill would require a long-term health care facility to notify the local long-term care ombudsman if a resident is notified in writing of a facility-initiated transfer or discharge from the facility, as specified. The bill would provide that a failure to timely provide a copy of that notice would constitute a class B violation for purposes of a department-issued citation.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 1439.6 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

1439.6.
 (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), if a resident is notified in writing of a facility-initiated transfer or discharge from a long-term health care facility, the facility shall also send a copy of the notice to the local long-term care ombudsman at the same time notice is provided to the resident or the resident’s representative.
(b) If a resident is subject to a facility-initiated transfer to a general acute care hospital on an emergency basis, the facility shall provide a copy of the notice to the ombudsman as soon as practicable.
(c) The copy of the notice shall be sent by fax machine or email, as may be directed by the local long-term care ombudsman, unless the facility does not have fax or email capability, in which case the copy of the notice shall be sent by first-class mail, postage prepaid. A facility’s failure to timely send a copy of the notice shall constitute a class B violation, as defined in subdivision (e) of Section 1424.
(d) For the purposes of this section, a “facility-initiated transfer or discharge” is a transfer or discharge that is initiated by the facility and not by the resident, whether or not the resident agrees to the facility’s decision.